Crash landing feared as Europe's Mars
lander still silent
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[October 21, 2016]
FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) -
Thrusters intended to slow a European lander as it neared Mars on
Wednesday fired for less time than expected before contact with the
vehicle was lost, leaving scientists uncertain whether it touched down
safely or broke apart.
The Schiaparelli probe, part of a broader mission to search for evidence
of life on the Red Planet, was to test technologies during the descent
and on the surface for a rover scientists hope to send to Mars in 2020.
Its descent marked only the second European attempt to land a craft on
Mars, but it has shown no signs of life since it stopped transmitting
around 50 seconds before Wednesday's planned touchdown.
"We've had two over flights (by Mars orbiters) and there was no signal,"
the European Space Agency's (ESA) Spacecraft Operations Manager Andrea
Accomazzo told journalists on Thursday.
The disc-shaped 577-kg (1,272 lb) Schiaparelli is part of the
Russian-European ExoMars program that is seeking signs of life.
The primary part of the mission this year, bringing the Schiaparelli
lander's mothership into orbit around Mars, was meanwhile a success.
That craft, called Trace Gas Orbiter, will use an atmospheric probe to
sniff out methane and other gases around Mars linked to organic life. It
will also act as a data relay station for the rover, which is due to
follow in 2020.
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Landing on Mars, Earth's neighbor and at its closest some 35 million
miles (56 million km) away, is a notoriously difficult task that has
thwarted most Russian efforts and given NASA trouble as well.
The U.S. space agency had a setback of its own on Wednesday. Its Juno
spacecraft lost its main computer and science instruments shortly before
it was due to make an orbital pass near Jupiter, scuttling highly
anticipated close-up observations of the largest planet in the solar
system.
LAST FEW SECONDS
Schiaparelli is supposed to test new technologies for a rover that will
be the first with the ability to both move across the surface of Mars
and drill into the ground to collect and analyze samples.
Scientists said they had received data from the lander covering its
entry into the Martian atmosphere and the deployment of its heat shield
and parachute, which were designed to slow it from a speed of 21,000 km
per hour.
But its thrusters appeared to have fired for only a few seconds, much
shorter than expected, and scientists are not sure how far off the
ground Schiaparelli was when they shut off.
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![](../images/102116pics/news_k19.jpg)
An illustration released by the European Space Agency (ESA) shows
the Schiaparelli EDM lander. A European space lander reached Mars on
October 19, 2016 in what scientists hope will mark a major milestone
in exploration of the Red Planet, but whether it touched down on the
surface in good working condition was far from certain. ESA/ATG
medialab/Handout via REUTERS
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"We need to understand what happened in the last few seconds before
the planned landing," said David Parker, ESA's Director of Human
Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration.
Scientists will analyze all the data received so far, and also still
hope to re-establish contact with the lander before its batteries
run out in a few days.
Britain's Beagle 2 never made contact after being sent down by the
Mars Express spacecraft in 2003 and failing to deploy its solar
panels on landing.
Mars's hostile environment has not detracted from its allure, with
U.S. President Barack Obama recently highlighting his pledge to send
people to the surface by the 2030s.
Entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX is developing a massive rocket and
capsule to transport large numbers of people and cargo to Mars with
the ultimate goal of colonizing the planet.
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, who is set to become the first German
commander of the International Space Station in 2018, said the
ExoMars mission would provide important clues on what conditions the
first humans traveling to Mars would face.
"Eventually, though, we will need to go there ourselves as
scientists to find out what is there," he told Reuters TV late on
Wednesday.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Victoria Bryan)
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